For the World to See
by LouTheStarSpeaker
Summary: Lady Penelope somehow convinced the Tracy's to start a Youtube Channel, and to start off the shenanigans she thought it appropriate to let everyone know just who they are. Today she conducts an interview of the youngest member of the Tracy household, the brothers adopted little sister, Lacille Charter (OC). *Concept credited to Hikaru Kosuzaku's story "Living Like Kings."


Hi, everyone! It's not often that I'm back so soon, but this is one of those stories that were begging to be written, but at the same time it's something that I never thought I'd write (let alone post). This is an interview between Lady Penelope and my Original Character Lacille Charter. The story is that Lady Penelope thought it was high time the rest of the world got to know just who it was saving their lives day in and day out, so she created a YouTube channel for the Tracys. This was originally supposed to be a character study and writing exercise, but it quickly became much more. (And _wow,_ posting a story about an OC is _way_ more nerve wracking the regular work) ~Lou

**Disclaimer: The concept of a Thunderbirds YouTube channel and interviews was created by the wonderful **Hikaru Kosuzaku** for their (completely brilliant) story, "Living Like Kings." I'm posting this story with their permission.**

**Other Disclaimer: I don't own any Thunderbirds, or any Tracys, or Lady Penelope. I only own my OC. **

Important Note: My character mentions someone named "Acacia" during the interview, that's her older sister, another one of my OCs. Just didn't want anyone to be confused. :)

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For the World to See

The camera came into focus on Lady Penelope, seated in a plush leather chair in the loft above the lounge.

"Hello, world." She said elegantly. "Today we're interviewing one of the more behind-the-scenes members of International Rescue. One of the renowned Tracy _sisters_."

"But not Kayo." A smiling voice said from somewhere out of view. The focus widened and a teenage girl came into frame, sitting cross-legged in a chair identical to Lady Penelope's. Her head was bent over a colorful clipboard that held a handful of strings in place she was twisting into a bracelet, long braids falling in her face, and at the foot of her chair was large black dog, taking a snooze and looking very much like a fluffy rug.

"Oh, yes, this _isn't _Kayo." Lady P said and aimed a discerning look at the camera, knowing that the audience was especially interested in their evasive security officer. "Introduce yourself, dear." Penelope said to her interviewee.

Lacey looked up at the camera and flicked her glasses up her nose, an easy smile on her face. "Hi, guys, I'm Lacille Clairette Charter, but everyone just calls me Lacey. I'm fifteen years old and I don't have a designated Thunderbird, but I can pilot all of them. With varying levels of skill." She added with a rueful laugh at herself, her hands continuing to weave the threads even as she spoke.

Lady Penelope smiled as well, remembering a few of Lacey's mishaps, not the least of which was the clipped diving board that lodged itself within the thruster of Thunderbird One. "And where do you fall in the sibling line up, Lacey?"

"I'm number seven." She said, but then tilted her head. "Well I guess I could be two if you we're just counting me and Acacia, but we always count ourselves in with the boys. Whichever way you look at it I'm the youngest though." Lacey grinned. "Whenever people introduce Alan as the youngest he's always like, "I have a little sister!"" She shook her head, still smiling, then lowered her voice and leaned towards Penny as if sharing a secret. "Spoiler alert: he just likes being in charge of someone."

Penelope matched Lacey's tone and turned to the camera. "All of the Tracy's have a bit of an authority complex. It's hereditary, they simply can't help themselves."

"It's such a tragedy really." Lacey said, shaking her head sadly. "But that's the way it is. The grass is green and cats eat fish and Tracy's are control freaks." She said it very matter of fact, resigning herself to being bossed around for the rest of her life.

"Speaking of animals," Lady Penelope said, picking up a note card from the side table. "Many of the viewers noticed the dog bed in your bedroom during the room tour, and were wondering if he's a pet of Search and Rescue dog?"

"Well, the owner of the bed is this fluffy doggy right here. But he's a big baby and climbs in bed with me so he doesn't actually sleep there." Lacey said, bending forward to rub the furry head of the big black dog napping on the floor in front of her. "His name's Nightlight, and he's kind of a mutt in terms of breeding, but mostly Newfoundland."

Nightlight lifted his head at the sound of his name, giving the camera a perfect shot of his big doggy grin as he looked up expectantly at Lacey. She smiled and patted his head, saying "Ça va." (1) and he laid back down.

"He's not a pet or SAR actually," Lacey continued, taking up her bracelet making again. "He's a service animal." She seemed content to leave it at that, but Penny felt the world needed to know just what kinds of people put their lives on the line for them, and though Lacey's disability did not define her, it was a part of her, and it dictated how she lived her life everyday. So Lady Penelope gently asked the young girl the question she knew would be on everyone's tongue if she didn't. "And what kind of service animal is he, darling?"

Lacey sighed, her hands stopped moving for the first time since the interview started, and she sank a little farther into her seat. "Officially, he's trained as a guide dog. When I was little, I was in a car accident." Her gaze drifted away from the Penelope and the camera, as if she was remembering something she didn't want anyone to know, and was afraid they could read it in her eyes. She looked back to the camera after a moment. "I had a head injury. Bad. I went blind for more than nine months. I was seven. Jeff got him trained for me around the third month, 'cause no one was sure if I'd ever be able to see again. My vision still goes kind of weird when I get migraines sometimes, but Nightlight doesn't do too much guide work these days."

"And what does he do?" Lady Penelope prompted gently when Lacey fell silent again.

"Seizure detection." Lacey said. "I developed epilepsy after the accident, I space out, sometimes I collapse. But Nightlight knows before it happens, and he lets people know so they can help me."

"So even the dogs are heroes." Penelope said fondly.

"Especially the dogs." Lacey smiled. "Now where are all the easy questions, Penny? You asked Gordon his favorite food." She accused jokingly.

Penny laughed. "We can start with that one if you like, Lacey."

"Thank you." The young girl said satisfied, continuing her bracelet-making.

There was a brief, awkward stretch of silence before Lady Penelope asked, "Aren't you going to answer?"

"You didn't ask me the question yet."

"You already know the question, Lacey."

"Well, yeah, but you didn't _ask_ it. It's a Q&A, without the Q it's just… A"

Lady Penelope rolled her eyes, but you could see the humor in them. "Tracy logic, everyone. Not only is it hereditary, but apparently it's contagious."

"You live with them most of your life, you're gonna pick a few things." Lacey said, holding her hands up in a _what-are-you-gonna-do_ manner. "Now, the question?"

Penny shook her head, but asked it anyway, if she didn't she'd be here all night; stubbornness was also in the Tracy genes. "What's your favorite food, dear?"

"Cranberries." Lacey answered simply.

Penny looked at her with an incredulous expression. "All of the suspense for cranberries?"

"Yep." Lacey said, ducking her head as if to focus on the threads on her clipboard, but anyone could see she was trying to hide her grin.

"Alright then, favorite book?"

"_Lord of the Rings_, including _The Hobbit_."

"That's four books, darling."

Lacey looked up again, her face mock serious. "One does not simply choose just one book in a series."

Lady Penelope laughed a bit but left it at that. "Favorite animal?"

"Nightlight, of course." She said it as if it were an infinite truth that the dog was the greatest creature in the known universe.

"Of course." Lady Penelope agreed. "Favorite color?"

"It changes almost daily , but right now it's rose. The pink not the red."

Penny's eyebrows came together. "That shade specifically?" She asked, remembering the one word answers of her brothers.

Lacey smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "I think of colors differently than most people, I guess. I associate color with basically every sense except sight. I say things like, "This song is really indigo" and everyone looks at me weird but at the same time like they get me. Rose is the color of some of my favorite things."

"Which are?"

"Scott's hugs and Gordon's laugh and sunshine on your face."

Penny couldn't resist letting out a small "aww" at the sweet sentiment. She was sure Lacey had innocently talked her way into the hearts of the entire world. The girl ducked her head slightly, her gaze flickering briefly to the camera, as if she'd forgotten they were recording. She said things like that all the time with her family, they had never been shy about affection, but it felt different telling it to the entire world.

Penny smiled, but changed the subject. "Alright, darling, next question. You don't have a Thunderbird, so what's role in International Rescue."

Lacey sat up in her seat again, an animated smile on her face. "Technically I'm not allowed in the field so I do most of my work from here. I'm into computers, but the hardware stuff not the coding that John does, and also electrical engineering. So my official role is "Technological Consultant." She said, wrapping finger quotes around the phrase. "Basically I secure blueprints and plans of things like security and electrical systems and tell the guys how to disable it so they can get in and out of buildings and stuff."

Penny pinned her with a knowing look. "So you help them break into places."

Lacey gave a slightly mischievous grin. "Yeah, I help them break into places. But legally." She added with a pointed look at the camera. Penny laughed, she knew it would be hard for the world to believe that the bubbly, bracelet-making teenage girl sitting across from her could, theoretically of course, break into some of the most secure places on the planet; but then again they'd never seen her with a mess of wires and a soldering iron.

"You mentioned that you're not allowed in the field," Penny continued. "is there a specific reason for that?"

"I said _technically_, there's always exceptions." Lacey said with a secret smile. "But it was Scott's call.I'm never gonna be able to help out with natural disasters because of the epilepsy, but his main reason for why I'm not allowed on the technological ones is that I'm not old enough."

"But he allows Alan." Penny said.

Lacey nodded even though it wasn't a question. "Yeah, he does, and yeah, Alan's only a couple months older than me, but Alan's sort of special case. Less than ideal circumstances." Penny knew that these "circumstances" included and revolved around Jeff's disappearance. She also knew that they were far worse than "less than ideal", but made no comment.

"Everyone worries a lot about Alan," Lacey continued. "But it's Scott the most. I don't need to give him another thing to worry about, so I don't push him. I don't mind waiting that much."

Penny nodded, understanding Scott's reasoning more than she let on. She didn't wish for Lacey to dive headlong into International Rescue anymore than she had wanted Alan to, but desperate situations often called for sacrifice. Still, there was no reason to push Lacey to join IR at full capacity just yet, even if they hadn't had a choice with Alan. Better to keep her at home where she was safe.

Penny moved on to the next question. "Biggest pet peeve?"

Lacey frowned. "When they say 'you're just a kid.'"

"And who's 'they', darling?" Penny asked.

"Everyone." She snaps, throwing a hand up, but then she sighs and sinks back into the chair. "Like, just a few weeks ago, there was this damaged generator. It was gonna blow up and there as no time to get everyone out of the building. So Scott calls me in, one of those exceptions I was talking about, and the first thing this guy says is 'what the heck, your just a kid'" Lacey crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "It's ridiculous, Penny. If I'm about to save us from blowing up why should it matter if I'm a kid?"

"That's human nature at it's finest."

Lacey shrugged. "I guess. Alan handles it with a lot more grace than I do. Just more experience, I guess."

Penny nodded, looking back at her note cards. "What's your greatest fear?"

"Silence. Only dead things don't make a sound." Lacey was, of course, speaking from experience, and her answer warranted its own stretch of silence before Penny moved on.

"What's the best present you have ever received?" Penny was sure the audience was expecting Lacey to name an expensive and extravagant gift, being the adopted daughter of a millionaire, but,judging from her wistful expression, Penny was sure her answer would be nothing of the sort.

"For my ninth birthday, Jeff got me this antique record player and old jazz and blues records from, like, the 1970's. That's definitely the best gift I've ever received." Penny knew about the record player, her guestroom was right next to Lacey's, and she knew that Lacey played the records whenever she missed Jeff. She played them a lot.

"What's the best gift you've ever given?"

Lacey's expression was confused. "By my standards or theirs?"

"Your's."

Lacey nodded. "For Christmas last year I made Grandma Tracy a giant quilt, and embroidered a bunch of pictures from our photo album onto the squares. I had to start in like August to get it done in time, but it was worth it."

Penny smiled at the memory, it'd been one of the rare, uninterrupted holidays, with the whole family present. Lacey had left one square empty when she presented it to her Grandmother, to save a space for the annual Christmas photo, it had since been filled and was now hanging on Grandma Tracy's wall in her bedroom.

"Alright, last question darling, one of my own. Who's the bracelet for?" Penny asked a little coyly, indicating the bracelet Lacey had just detached from her clipboard. The colors were lovely, primarily orange with reds and golds woven in.

Lacey huffed out a laugh, shaking her head a bit. "This one's actually for Gordon." Lacey said, holding it up so the camera could see. "The other day Alan told me he saw Gordon go in my room and said that he was pranking me, so I filled his celery crunch bars with food coloring."

"He didn't notice the wrappers were open?" Penny asked.

Lacey shook her head. "I glued them all shut again after I was done. Gordon always says, 'Never leave a trace.'"

Penny was mildly impressed, pranking was taken very seriously in the Tracy household.

"Gordon's teeth were stained blue for a week." Lacey continued. "Only thing is, turns out that Gordon was only bringing in my laundry." She admitted ruefully as Lady Penelope burst into laughter next to her.

"I fully blame Alan for this entire situation." Lacey continued when Lady Penelope had regained her calm. "And so does Gordon actually, they're in the middle of a prank war. But the bracelet is like a _thanks-for-doing-my-laundry-and-I'm-sorry-for-turning-your-teeth-blue_ type gift."

Penny huffed another laugh. "So just the normal sort of gift?"

Lacey grinned. "Exactly."

"Well that was the final question, Lacey. I believe you're one of the only ones in your family who actually finished the interview."

Lacey stood up, collecting her craft supplies. "My family's a busy group of people. Bye, guys." She said waving to the camera. "Veilleuse, viens." (2) She said to Nightlight who stood up and followed her, their quick footsteps fading down the stairwell.

And the screen went dark.

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**(1) "Ça va" French for "It's okay"**

**(2) "Veilleuse, viens" French for "Nightlight, come on"**

There you have it! Let me know if maybe you'd want to see her in another story sometime (or maybe her sister), I have a lot of back story for these two girls.  
Enjoy your summer!  
~Lou


End file.
